GERTRUDE AND OPHELIA IN HELL-REGIONAL PREMIERE
GERTRUDE AND OPHELIA IN HELL
BY REBECCA GORMAN O’NEILL
April 23-30
The Roaming Gnome Theatre
Directed by Billie McBride
Starring Susan Lyles & Kate Poling
Sound Design -Darren Smith
Light Design-Alexis Bond
Crew- Harrison Lyles-Smith
Music : Sparkleandtheburn
In this dark comedy Ophelia and Gertrude are in limbo and on their way to hell. Both believe they have been wrongfully accused. Ophelia claims that the branch was to blame! Gertrude claims that the adultery accusation is specious at best! What if they could get a redo? What if Hamlet just takes the crown this time…
This will be Rebecca Gorman O’Neill’s fifth fully produced collaboration with And Toto too Theatre Company, a relationship that started in 2011 with a workshop of her play The Greater Good which went on to a full production on our mainstage. This was followed by The Play Ground, and then Way Station and South Star. She also has the distinction to be our longest standing writer for our annual Play Crawl’s micro plays for the last 10 years.
PLAYWRIGHT
REBECCA GORMAN O’NEILL (SHE/HER/HERS)
Rebecca Gorman O’Neill was born in Akron, Ohio; she left at age 17 to attend Dartmouth College where she earned a B.A. in Drama and English. Rebecca went on to earn her M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. Her original plays have been produced across the United States, and those published can be found through Dramatic Publishing, Eldridge Publishing, and Next Stage Press. Rebecca is a Professor of English at Metropolitan State University of Denver, where she teaches playwriting, screenwriting, cinema studies, and the graphic novel.
DIRECTOR
BILLIE MCBRIDE
Billie McBride Director . Billie has directed for many of the Colorado Theatre companies including 10 years at The Denver Children’s Theatre and recently she directed The Fantasticks for THAC, Same time Next Year for CCT, Grease for Center Stage in Louisville and a new play for the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her next directing projects are The One-Act Play Festival for the Denver Center Academy and will be Co-directing Memphis for THAC. She is also an Actress. Recent productions are The Year of Magical Thinking at The Aurora Fox, The Treasurer and Before You Go at Miners Alley Playhouse, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime for BETC, Life Sucks for the Aurora Fox, Sunday in the Park for The Arvada Center and Enchanted April for CSFAC. Before moving to Colorado she spent 20 years in NYC doing theatre and Television. Her Broadway stage credits include Torch Song Trilogy (Helen Hayes), Safe Sex (Lyceum) and The Kurt Weill Cabaret (Bijou Theatre). She has won 3 Henry Awards, the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2016 True West Award.
THE CAST
KATE POLING (she/Her)
OPHELIA
Kate Poling is excited to be performing with And Toto too again! She is an actor, director, and teaching artist based in Denver, Colorado. She holds a BFA in Acting from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. New York Credits: Puppet Julius Caesar (Puppet Shakespeare Players). With And Toto too: Gertrude and Ophelia in Hell (Edinburgh Fringe 2022); Smoke; South Star; The Way Station; Show of Force. Other Colorado credits: Miss Bennet: Pemberley at Christmas, Pride and Prejudice, Towards Zero, Three Tall Women (Firehouse Theatre); Rumpelstiltskin, The Story of the Nutcracker, The Pied Piper (Miners Alley Playhouse); Twelfth Night (Foothills Theatre Company); Inheritance (Curious Theatre Co) and Almost Maine (Town Hall Arts Center). Enjoy the show!
Susan Lyles (SHE/HER)
Gertrude
Susan Lyles is an accomplished and award winning director and producer, holds a BA from Wichita State University, and received certification from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Shakespeare. She has worked on stage as an actor in both Chicago and Denver. Credits: Whacking the Turkey (Hildegard); The Playground (Omni, Rachel); Ordering Lunch (Sarah); Hay Fever (Sorrel); Present Laughter (Daphne); Swimming in Seuss (Fox, Cindy Lou Who, The Lorax. Ensemble) Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Narrator). Film Credits: Blameless; Shattered; Second String Villains; Son of Spies and Whispers, B.O.B. and Night Screams. She has also worked in commercials, print, industrial, and voice over. Susan is the founder and Producing Artistic Director of And Toto too Theatre Company, and has directed more than 20 plays, including the award winning Naked in Encino, Car Talk, and Heads. She has designed costumes for more than 50 plays, including Lion in Winter (Denver Victorian Playhouse), 12th Night (Denver Victorian Playhouse), and Greater Tuna and Christmas Tuna (Denver Victorian Playhouse, Town Hall Arts Center). Susan is also producer for the award winning film production company Ruff, Ruff, Dog Productions.
SOUND DESIGN/SET DESIGN
DARREN SMITH (HE/HIM)
Darren Smith serves as vice-president as well as technical director for And Toto too, he is responsible for the technical operations of the theater, determining technical staffing and equipment requirements for productions, and acts as the central coordinating point for the designers, the stage management team, the craftspeople, etc. – throughout each production. With more than 30 years of experience both on-stage and in almost every capacity behind the scenes, he brings a wealth of ideas and best practices to And Toto too. Mr. Smith is not, despite what a 'vanity search' on the internet may lead you to believe, an editor and writer specializing in travel directories and feature magazine stories, an Australian rugby league player, the 1997 World Irish Dancing Champion, a football player for the Grand Valley State University Lakers, a new age composer living in Texas, or a Christian comedian and illusionist. He lives in Denver with his wife, sons, and their two dogs, and is also the co-founder of the leading B2B customer reference company Point of Reference.
Alexis Bond
Light Design
Alexis is delighted to be collaborating with And Toto too again, and to be making her post-Covid design debut! Alexis is a Denver native with experience in local theatre, rental and staging, and most recently has been using her logistics skills for Summit Integrated, an audio visual install company for churches. Alexis would like to thank her incredible circle of friends that have never wavered in their support.
Proverbs 19:22
HARRISON LYLES-SMITH
CREW
Harrison is a freshman at the University of Northern Colorado. They are an AEC, and are SAG eligible. His work includes, Jean and Beatrice (UNCO), Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Aurora Fox), Jerusalem (Edge Theatre), Medea (Edge Theatre), Appropriate (Curious Theatre), A Chorus Line (Denver School of the Arts), Radium Girls (Denver School of the Arts), A Scouts Guide to Brutal Honesty, and Blow Ins (And Toto too) Film credits include: Liam, 7th Son, Son of Lies and Whispers, Second String Villians, the feature film The Engagement Plot, and the indie short film Reed Gig. They would like to thank all their friends and family for their support.